Watsonville man arrested in Santa Cruz vehicle shooting

WATSONVILLE >> An 18-year-old Watsonville man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a gang-motivated shooting between cars at a Santa Cruz intersection on a busy afternoon Jan. 20, Santa Cruz police said Wednesday.

The shooter, who did not hurt anyone, sprayed bullets from a white Volkswagen Jetta into the driver-side door of a black Ford Mustang near North Branciforte and Soquel avenues Jan. 20, Lt. Warren Barry said.

Police searched Jovanni Fernandez’s Watsonville home and the Jetta on Tuesday morning after witnesses reported seeing more than two occupants fleeing in the car on Soquel Avenue on Jan. 20, Barry said.

A handgun was used in the shooting, he said.

Fernandez, who was at Santa Cruz County Jail on Wednesday, faces three charges of attempted murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, participation in a street gang and possession of alcohol by a minor. No bail was set on the attempted-murder charges. Bail was set at $1,500 on the misdemeanor alcohol charge, according to jail records.

Three people were in a vehicle that had been shot twice about 1:45 p.m. Jan. 20 less than a mile from downtown Santa Cruz, police said.

None of the occupants were hurt, Barry said.

The shooting stemmed from an argument and “words were exchanged,” police said.

The bullets came “extremely close” to the people in the Mustang, from which bullets were recovered, Barry said.

“We take gang and gun violence very seriously,” Barry said. “The occupants or pedestrians could have been killed.”

The arrest resulted from an open investigation by the police department and Santa Cruz County Gang Task Force with support from Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, Barry said.

Anyone with information about the shooting can call investigations at 831-420-5820.